The Rangers acquired left-hander Michael Kickham from the Mariners on Tuesday and optioned him to Triple A Round Rock.
Charlie Riedel
AP

The Rangers acquired left-hander Michael Kickham from the Mariners on Tuesday and optioned him to Triple A Round Rock.
Charlie Riedel
AP

HOUSTON

The Rangers acquired left-handed pitcher Mike Kickham on a waiver claim from the Seattle Mariners Tuesday and optioned him to Triple A Round Rock.

The club moved outfielder Ryan Rua from the 15-day to 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster. Rua has been out with a broken bone in his right foot.

Kickham, 26, was designated for assignment by the Mariners on Monday. He was 0-2 with a 7.29 ERA in 21 innings pitched in five starts. Opposing hitters are batting .243 against him. His last start on May 2.

Kickham was 0-3 in 14 appearances (three starts) with the San Francisco Giants in 2013-14.

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Rua was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 11 with a non-displaced fracture in his right heel on April 10. He is eligible to come off the 60-day DL on June 10.

Martin injures wrist

Center fielder Leonys Martin left Monday’s game with a bruised wrist after rolling over it on a diving attempt on a fly ball in the third inning. He is able to play defense and run, and could be used, Banister said, but swinging the bat remained painful on Tuesday. An x-ray detected a bruise but no break. Banister hopes Martin can return to the lineup in a day or so.

Moreland closer

Mitch Moreland, who had surgery to remove a loose bone in his left elbow last week, played catch from 75 feet Tuesday and took 25 swings off a tee. He feels great and hopes to hit in the cage Wednesday or Thursday.

“I tried to talk them into BP, maybe a little game action,” joked Moreland, who said he isn’t surprised how quickly he’s recovering. “I felt good pretty much the next day.”

Moreland was second on the team in hitting with a .330 batting average. He’s ready to return to action, especially after missing most of last season after ankle surgery. He is elbow locked up on him early this season but played through it until surgery was determined necessary.

“You want to play the game. I missed a lot of time last year and this year it was one of those freak things, kind of unfortunate, but I want to get back out there,” he said. “It’s the reason I fought them the first time.”

Hamilton goes again

Outfielder Josh Hamilton will play in another Extended Spring game on Wednesday. Hamilton grounded to first base and struck out once in his first action on Monday. He’s expected to begin a rehab assignment with Triple A Round Rock next week.

Odd start

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tuesday’s matchup between the Rangers’ Wandy Rodriguez and the Astros’ Scott Feldman is the first time opposing starting pitchers each 100 or more starts for the other club since Sept. 12, 2011 when the Phillies’ Roy Oswalt started against the Astros’ Brett Myers in a game at Minute Maid Park.

Frisco releases Garcia

Left-handed pitcher Martire Garcia was released by Double A Frisco Tuesday. Garcia, 25, had allowed three runs in 1 1/3 innings over three appearances this season. Lefty Chad Bell was reinstated off the temporary inactive list.

Quotable

“Obviously, we knew we had some stuff we had to get better at. There’s going to be bumps in the road. But we absolutely think the sky is the limit for what we’re capable of doing and I think once we get on a good roll and everything starts clicking together we’ll be in a much better place than we are right now. It’s still pretty early and we have a long ways to go and we have a lot of stuff we can definitely get better at.” — Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland on the team’s 9-16 start.